Senior Strategic Account Lead

Role Summary

The Senior Strategic Account Lead is a senior-level client services and campaign leadership role designed for a highly complex, high-touch customer relationship. This individual serves as the single point of ownership across client strategy, campaign execution, team coordination, performance accountability, reporting cadence, and issue resolution.

The role will lead a dedicated account pod consisting of Customer Success Managers and a Reporting Analyst, while also coordinating closely with media buyers and channel specialists. This person must combine strong digital marketing knowledge with operational discipline, strategic thinking, project management, and executive-level client communication.

This is not a traditional Customer Success Manager role. It is a senior account leadership position responsible for aligning client goals, internal execution, and campaign outcomes across multiple channels.

Role Purpose

This position exists to provide senior-level oversight and accountability for a strategic customer that requires more leadership, strategic validation, project management, and quality control than a standard CSM structure can support.

The role should ensure that campaign strategy, activation, reporting, fulfillment, and customer communication are tightly managed through one accountable leader.

Core Responsibilities

Client Leadership and Communication

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the customer across campaign strategy, status, performance, questions, and issue resolution.

• Lead all ongoing customer meetings, including status meetings, planning calls, optimization reviews, and performance discussions.

• Establish meeting cadence, communication standards, reporting schedules, and follow-up processes.

• Address customer inquiries quickly and confidently, while ensuring accurate and well-coordinated responses.

• Build trust with senior client stakeholders by demonstrating strong command of strategy, execution, and results.

Team Leadership and Pod Management

• Lead a dedicated pod supporting the account, including Customer Success Managers and a Reporting Analyst.

• Coordinate work across internal contributors such as media buyers, campaign managers, channel specialists, and fulfillment partners.

• Define responsibilities, timelines, owners, and expected outcomes for all major deliverables.

• Hold team members accountable for deadlines, quality standards, responsiveness, and follow-through.

• Provide day-to-day leadership, prioritization, and direction to ensure smooth execution across the account.

Project Management and Campaign Activation

• Own project management across all campaigns from pre-launch planning through activation, optimization, reporting, and wrap-up.

• Create and maintain project plans, timelines, milestone tracking, and deliverable schedules.

• Ensure campaigns move efficiently through ordering, setup, launch, fulfillment, and optimization.

• Monitor campaign progress during active execution and proactively address roadblocks, risks, delays, or breakdowns.

• Keep all stakeholders aligned on campaign status, open issues, and next steps.

Strategy Oversight and Validation

• Develop and refine digital strategy across channels including paid search, SEO, OTT/CTV, display, and related performance media.

• Evaluate recommendations from internal media buyers and client contacts to ensure they align with stated business goals and performance objectives.

• Push back constructively when requested tactics or strategies do not support desired outcomes.

• Connect customer requests to measurable objectives, channel selection, execution plans, and KPI expectations.

• Identify gaps between requested work and likely performance outcomes, and recommend stronger strategic alternatives.

Performance and KPI Ownership

• Own account-level performance accountability across all active campaigns and initiatives.

• Define, monitor, and communicate performance KPIs with the customer and internal team.

• Partner with reporting and channel teams to ensure performance insights are accurate, actionable, and tied to business outcomes.

• Lead performance review conversations and make recommendations for optimization, pivoting, or escalation when needed.

• Ensure reporting is timely, polished, easy to understand, and aligned to customer goals.

Quality Control and Issue Management

• Aggressively review deliverables, reporting, campaign setup details, and customer-facing materials before release.

• Identify issues created by internal teams, client inputs, or fulfillment partners before they impact campaign results or customer satisfaction.

• Stay closely involved in ordering, trafficking, fulfillment, reporting, and communication workflows to reduce errors.

• Escalate and resolve issues quickly, with clear ownership and communication.

• Implement disciplined quality assurance standards to improve consistency and reduce execution risk.

Key Qualifications

Required Experience

• 7+ years of experience in digital advertising, media, account management, customer success, campaign operations, or client strategy.

• 3+ years in a senior client-facing role managing complex digital campaigns or strategic accounts.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams or account pods, whether through direct people management or strong matrix leadership.

• Proven experience managing high-touch customers with complex expectations, frequent communication needs, and performance accountability.

• Experience overseeing active campaign execution and project management across multiple workstreams.

Channel and Functional Expertise

• Strong understanding of digital marketing channels, including paid search, SEO, display, OTT/CTV, and related performance media.

• Ability to speak credibly with customers and internal specialists about strategy, execution, optimization, and reporting across channels.

• Understanding of campaign lifecycle management, including planning, ordering, launch, fulfillment, reporting, and issue resolution.

• Strong analytical ability with experience interpreting results, identifying issues, and recommending action.

Leadership and Communication Skills 

• Strong executive presence and confidence in customer-facing settings.

• Able to lead meetings, set agendas, manage follow-up, and maintain momentum across multiple stakeholders.

• Demonstrated ability to push back diplomatically when requests, strategies, or deliverables do not align with outcomes.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to simplify complex campaign information.

• Able to drive accountability across teams without relying solely on formal authority.

Operational and Personal Competencies

• Exceptional organization and project management skills.

• Strong attention to detail and high standards for quality control.

• Able to identify issues early and solve problems with urgency.

• Comfortable working in fast-moving environments with multiple campaigns, stakeholders, and deadlines.

• Strategic thinker who can balance customer service, performance goals, and execution discipline.